Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
SACRED SPACE
Tom Bender
27 March 06
Reconnecting with the oneness of Creation, we are finding new purpose, new meaning, and new
richness in our lives. Through it, we are beginning to transform our culture into one able to sustain and
support the well-being of all life. This is enabling us to reopen our hearts long closed off from the
pain an exploitive society caused us, others, and all life.
As we begin to connect in humility rather than arrogance with the deeper traditions of other cultures,
we are finding with joy that art and architecture can fill a profoundly different role than in a culture of
material growth and greed. What occurs as we shape our surroundings is vastly different in a sacred
culture.
1
The sacred emerges simply in our
lives. Whenever we allow our-
selves to know someplace, some-
one, or something intimately, we
come to love them. We see
among their inevitable warts and
wrinkles the special and wonder-
ful things that they are, and their
existence becomes as precious to
us as our own. Loving them, we
come to hold their existence
inviolate - or sacred - and any action which would harm them be-
comes inconceivable. Loving them, we open our hearts. And in that
open heart we discover the oneness of all creation. Openness, inti-
macy, knowledge, and love are the essential foundations upon which
any healthy existence and any true sustainability must be built.
The purpose of sacred art is to bridge between our finite world and
Form is never valued for its own the infinite - to activate and carry us into that realm, and to help us
sake, but only so far as it serves to understand the dance of creation in the realms of spirit. It is an
provide experience of religious or avenue through which to connect with wonderous unknown things,
metaphysical truth. What is sought and to transform our own souls. Its goal is revelation.
in form is an indwelling presence,
the soul imprisoned in the Its use of form arises from inner sources, and deals with revealing the
material. Madhu Khanna, in inner nature of phenomena. In it, form or design is merely circum-
YANTRA
stantial and valued only as it provides experience of spiritual truth
that can be confirmed in direct personal experience of others. It can
provide that experience only if the artist has experienced it in the
process of creating the work of art. What is sought in sacred art is a
presence of the source of creation the soul immanent within the
experience.
Sacred Art
As we regain understanding of the interconnection of
life-force energy and the sacred, and the role of arts in
The patterns on Shipibo mens ceremonial
wear, and geometric face painting for healing
those realms, we are no longer dependent on artistic
ceremonies have been brought back from concepts limited to materialistic cultures. In sacred
direct experience of the spirit world as active art, many of our familiar concepts are transformed.
linkage to powerful forces active there. Beauty, for example, becomes an offering to spirit, a
vehicle for opening our hearts, and a way of knowing
truth a special harmony and synchronicity within
the oneness of spirit. Within beauty, recognition of
truth on a deep level is possible.
4
Their geometries come from their spiritual
visions, and have specific and significant mean-
ing and power.
Covering the outer surfaces of their bodies and
their material surroundings with the geometries
is not decoration but bringing them into
congruence with actual experience of their
deeper nature in the energetic realms. The
paintings of contemporary ayahuasca shaman
Pablo Amaringo is not fantasy creation, but
detailed recording of shared community experi-
ences in visions. Other villagers would stop by
and comment on one thing or another in the
paintings, and say, Oh, yes, I remember seeing
that!
The indigenous notion of abundance that underlies such work practices is very different from that in
the West. Villagers are interested not in accumulation but in a sense of fullness. Abundance, in that
sense of fullness, has a power that takes us away from the worry characteristic of lives in our culture.
So even the process associated with the making of art is profoundly different.
6
Sacred space is where we feel physically safe from
disruption during deep process, and psychically safe
for the vulnerable process of opening our chakras and
psychic portals to connect intimately to others or to
the realms of spirit. It is a place constituted to enable
connection with the realms of spirit.
Such places are filled with a deeply powerful stillness. They act as energized portals to connect us to
the rest of Creation. They nurture us, and our institutions with the breath of life, with the strength of
truth. They inform our sciences, and help us transform knowledge to wisdom.
7
In an energy-based culture, co-creation with
other consciousness becomes a powerful process
of design, bringing energy and rightness into a
place beyond what we can consciously conceive.
Here, the design was shifted into an inner
focus rather than looking out into a garden
more powerful for meditation.
Learning to set aside our rational compulsions and tap into our shared universal consciousness brings
new tools to help discriminate what material possessions help to attain our goals and what distracts
from and inhibits our highest goals. It helps us design with respect for the needs and aspirations of all
Creation. And it helps us deal with the silences and absences in the places we create death, illness,
age, equity, fairness, the sacred, sustainability the things our culture hasnt wanted to acknowledge or
deal with, but which contribute vital elements to the (w)holiness of the places we make.
Intention
Ive discussed details of creating sacred places elsewhere, so will just touch on a few of the important
concepts here. One of the most important aspects of sacred design or sacred art is intention. All that we
touch is like a mirror, reflecting back to us the intention that has gone into its making and use. If made
from greed, if made to deceive, it conveys that. If created from a meanness of soul or smallness of
spirit, it surrounds us with that essence. If made with love, with generosity, with honoring of all life, it
supports and evokes the same intentions in our own lives and communities.
8
Clarity, strength, and rightness of intention also bring life
force energy, or qi, into a place, a painting, or an object,
with its ability to nurture our lives. The nature of our
intention whether in making or using a place reflects
that same energy back into our own lives, enhancing or
weakening our own energy.
Qi Energy
Qi, or life force energy, is a central part of the
soul of place and art that we are rediscovering
today. The Maya say that there is life force in
everything, but that we have to imbue the
things we create with that energy. Combined
with intention, life force energy forms the
template upon which our material world takes shape in
its wonderful complexity. It is vital to supporting our
physical as well as emotional and spiritual health. It is
blocked by artificial building materials, intensive use of
electromagnetic devices, and cultural practices based on
taking from others.
Even institutional
structures such as
banks can be
energized when
we touch into the
original heart of
the institution
in that case as a
means for a
community to
priortize the
manifesting of
dreams.
9
Diseases of the Spirit
The truly rampant diseases in our materialistic culture were not of the body, but diseases of the spirit.
They arose from lack of self-esteem and mutual respect, being of value to our community, or finding
meaning in our lives. They found expression in rape, substance abuse, addictions, violence, crime,
obesity, isolation, depression and despair things possible in any culture, overpowering in ours. They
arose from the root violence of our
deepest cultural values our separa-
tion from the love of others caused by
denying existence of the spirit world.
Love
Our places need to convey a spirit of
greatness and generosity in our hearts
of celebration of the universe we
inhabit and co-create, and of our
connections throughout it. We need
homes for our spirits as well as our
Communities based in the sacred give nourishment, meaning,
bodies. We need to express the
and fullness to our lives that has been absent in a world shut
off from the innate connectedness that exists among all life.
special spirit of place and time in our
10
Giving
The act of giving is a powerfully transforma-
tive deed. Expressed in our surroundings
and our art, it becomes the embodiment of
soul needed for sustainability as individuals
and as a culture. Building that lasts beyond
our lives can become gifts to succeeding
generations. Providing habitat for birds,
spiders, bats, and butterflies; restoring creeks
and watersheds, providing wildlife migra-
tion routes, are all forms of giving.
Ecstasy
Emotion, ecstasy, and primal presence are
elements of, and also doorways into, the
sacred. Energy rides emotion. Art arising
from, and conveying, deep emotion moves
life-force energy, and opens connection with
the sacred. Connection with the sacred in
turn creates ecstatic experience, moves en-
ergy, and opens our hearts even further. This
is the core and importance of direct personal
experience of the sacred, and the empower-
ing role of truly sacred forms of art.
Tom Bender * 38755 Reed Rd.* Nehalem OR * 97131 * 503-368-6294 * www.tombender.org * tbender@nehalemtel.net
11